Music publishing royalty collections and distributions reached important milestones in 2024 and 2025. CISAC member societies collected €12.59 billion in music royalties worldwide in 2024, while digital collections passed €5 billion for the first time. Organisation-level reports add a closer view of how money moved through major performing-rights organisations (PROs), including PRS for Music, SOCAN, and BMI.
Contents
- Global collection scale
- Digital and streaming distributions
- Live, background, broadcast, and physical channels
- Regional royalty patterns
- PRS for Music distributions
- SOCAN collections and payouts
- PRO payout structures
Global collection scale
The broadest comparable view comes from the CISAC Global Collections Report 2025. Its 2024 dataset covers 228 collective management organisations in 111 countries and territories, representing more than 5 million creators across five repertoires.
CISAC reported €13.97 billion in global creator royalty collections in 2024, a record and a 6.6% increase from the previous year. Music accounted for 90% of that total, with music royalty collections reaching €12.59 billion, up 7.2% year over year. Across 2015–2024, global creator royalty collections were 65.2% higher in 2024 than in 2015; CISAC also described music collections as about two-thirds higher than a decade earlier.
These figures measure collections by member societies. They are not the same thing as an individual songwriter’s payout, a publisher’s net receipt, or a platform’s gross revenue. The distinction matters because collection totals describe money gathered for rights, while organisation reports may describe revenue, distributable income, or money actually paid to rightsholders.
| Measure | Reported figure | Measurement period |
|---|---|---|
| Music royalties collected worldwide | €12.59 billion | 2024 |
| Total creator royalties collected worldwide | €13.97 billion | 2024 |
| Growth in music collections | 7.2% | 2024 year over year |
| Growth in total creator collections | 6.6% | 2024 year over year |
| Increase in total creator collections | 65.2% | 2015–2024 |
Digital and streaming distributions
Digital sources were the fastest-growing major collection channel in the CISAC data. Global digital creator royalty collections reached €5.14 billion in 2024, up 11.2%, and exceeded €5 billion for the first time. CISAC reported a sevenfold increase in digital collections between 2015 and 2024.
Digital revenues rose 110.6% from 2020 to 2024 and became the leading creator income source. Nearly 54% of all new creator income generated during 2020–2024 came from digital sources. In 2024, digital sources represented 37% of global creator income, equal to €5.1 billion in the CISAC news release, while the report gives the more precise collection figure of €5.14 billion.
The digital share varied by territory. In 2024, digital represented 27.1% of creator collections in the United States, compared with 13.9% in France and 11.4% in the United Kingdom. Those percentages describe each market’s collection mix; they do not establish a universal per-stream royalty rate or a fixed split between writers, publishers, labels, and performers.
The CISAC Global Collections Report 2025 therefore points to two simultaneous developments: digital income is expanding rapidly, and its importance differs substantially by territory. For music producers who also write or publish compositions, registration and matching remain relevant because a growing share of royalty value is moving through digital uses while collection systems remain territory-specific.
Live, background, broadcast, and physical channels
Digital growth did not eliminate other royalty channels. Live and background creator royalty collections reached €3.60 billion globally in 2024, up 9.6%. Collections exceeded €3.5 billion for the first time, stood more than one-third above 2015 levels, and were nearly one-quarter above the pre-pandemic peak.
Broadcast remained larger than live and background in the global totals. Broadcast creator collections reached €3.94 billion in 2024, up 0.8%. TV and radio represented 28% of global creator income, or €3.9 billion, according to the CISAC release. At the same time, the TV-and-radio share of global creator collections fell by 1.6 percentage points in 2024.
Physical formats show the clearest long-term decline among the reported channels. Global physical-format creator revenues in 2024 were 37.7% below their 2015 level. The supplied CISAC figures do not identify a single cause for that change, so the comparison should be read as a measurement of collection levels rather than an explanation of market behavior.
The channel figures are useful for interpreting publishing income beyond streaming. A composition can generate value through a live performance, background use, television, radio, digital use, or physical-format activity, and the relevant society may collect or distribute each category under different reporting periods and rules.
Regional royalty patterns
Europe remained the largest broad market in the 2024 CISAC data: Europe retained more than 50% of global creator royalty market share. West Europe generated €7.09 billion in creator royalty collections, up 6.1%.
The CISAC Global Collections Report 2025 reported the following regional totals and annual changes:
| Region | 2024 creator royalty collections | Change in 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| West Europe | €7.09 billion | +6.1% |
| Canada and the United States | €3.52 billion | +10.0% |
| Asia-Pacific | €1.92 billion | +2.9% |
| Latin America | €786 million | -0.6% |
| Eastern Europe | €566 million | +13.8% |
| Africa | €90 million | +14.2% |
The regional growth rates should be read alongside the different starting scales. Africa recorded the fastest percentage increase among the listed regions, at 14.2%, but its reported collection total was €90 million. Eastern Europe rose 13.8% to €566 million. By contrast, Canada and the United States grew 10.0% to €3.52 billion, and West Europe grew 6.1% to €7.09 billion.
CISAC separately reported that Africa’s music collections increased 10.0% in 2024. That music-specific rate is distinct from Africa’s 14.2% increase in total creator royalty collections. Latin America was the only listed region with a decline, down 0.6% to €786 million.
PRS for Music distributions
The PRS Annual Report & Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2024 provides organisation-level figures for the United Kingdom-based society. PRS for Music paid £1,020 million to rightsholders in 2024, an 8.1% increase from 2023.
PRS recognised £1,160.6 million of revenue in 2024, up 5.98% year over year, and reported £1,034.58 million of net distributable income, up 5.35%. The 2024 cost-to-income ratio was 9.6%, compared with 9.5% in 2023. These are separate measures: recognised revenue, net distributable income, and payments to rightsholders should not be treated as interchangeable totals.
International activity was a major part of the reported distribution picture. PRS distributed £356 million from international income in 2024, up 20.1% year over year, while international revenue reached £359 million, up 3.6%. The Europe market delivered £185 million in 2024.
Live revenue also expanded. PRS reported that live revenues increased by £18.5 million, or 26.9%, in 2024. The figure describes the change in PRS’s live revenue, not a universal growth rate for live music publishing or a guaranteed increase for every member.
SOCAN collections and payouts
SOCAN’s figures provide a Canadian view of music publishing and performing-rights activity. In its 2024 centennial distribution report, SOCAN said it distributed a record C$512.4 million to rightsholders in 2024, up 17.5% year over year. Total revenue was C$559.4 million, up 6.9%.
SOCAN reported C$545.2 million in performing-rights revenue and C$14.2 million in reproduction-rights revenue for 2024. It collected C$421.6 million from music uses in Canada, C$208.7 million from digital sources, and C$137.8 million from music uses in international territories. The digital total rose 10.8% year over year, while international collections rose 14.9%.
SOCAN’s reports use different dates and measures. Its 2024 distributions incorporate matched revenue from 2023 and early 2024, as described in the organisation’s report. The later SOCAN 2025 Revenue Hits Record $587M report states that SOCAN distributed C$511.9 million to rightsholders in 2025, versus C$512.4 million in 2024.
For 2025, SOCAN reported C$232.8 million in digital revenue from music used in Canada, up 11.5% year over year. Distributions included C$126 million in international performing rights, C$183.8 million in Canadian performing rights, and C$11.8 million in reproduction rights. These 2025 figures are reported separately from the 2024 collection and distribution measures.
PRO payout structures
BMI’s FY2024 Year in Review reported its highest-ever royalty total for the fiscal year ended 30 June 2024, 13% above the prior year. BMI committed to distribute 85% of licensing revenue to songwriters, composers, and publishers in that fiscal year.
The same report counted nearly 45 BMI acts at SXSW and said its networking series enabled over 100 emerging songwriters to build industry connections during fiscal 2024. Those activity figures are not royalty distributions, but they help distinguish programme reach from financial payout measures.
BMI also reported a special $100 million sale-proceeds allocation to qualifying affiliates in 2024. The eligibility threshold for that special allocation was $500 in earnings. This was a specific allocation with a stated threshold, not a general royalty rate for all BMI affiliates.
SOCAN’s submission in the CRTC 2025-52 consultation illustrates how distribution mix can change over time. SOCAN reported that the domestic digital share of writer-member royalty distributions rose from 4% in 2017 to 18.1% in 2024. It also reported that Canadian writer and composer members received less than 20% of domestic distributions from digital sources in 2024, meaning more than 80% of their domestic distributions came from non-digital sources.
Taken together, these reports show why music publishing royalty distributions statistics need careful labels. A global collection total, a society’s revenue, net distributable income, a rightsholder payout, and a channel share answer different questions. The measurement year, fiscal year, territory, currency, and whether the number describes collections or distributions are essential parts of every comparison.